We love to mingle worship and the arts, celebrating God’s story in song and drama. Above all, we believe that worship is liturgy, from the Greek, leitourgia, “the work of the people.” Each of us is given by God a unique mind, heart, conscience and life experience. It is our responsibility to bring our ideas and experiences before one another, as together we interpret God’s word. Lay liturgists (non-ordained people) at First Church play an essential and significant role in every service of worship, leading prayers, preaching occasionally, and offering mission moments and testimonials.

Our wider church, the UCC, affirms that each generation has the blessing and responsibility to “make the faith its own.” At First Church Somerville, we do this with worship that really speaks to our modern, everyday lives, while tapping into deep and ancient practices.

Sunday Morning

We gather to worship God every Sunday morning at 10a: to find friends, pray together, confess what needs mending in our lives, hear readings from the Bible and a sermon preached with relevance and often humor.

Most of us come dressed down. We are a mix of old and new: mostly young adults, but with folks from every generation; students, professionals, working class folks, longtime Somervillians and people newly arrived.

On any given Sunday, we may be singing gospel, playing bluegrass, or enjoying triumphant classical music on the organ. The choir may sing a capella, the children’s choir might sing folk tunes. There may be movie clips or other media that find their way into the service to make us think and move our spirits.

Once a month, we worship together with our children ages 3 and older, in a slightly shorter service that calls on all the senses. On other Sundays, our children join us at the time of offering towards the end of the service, sometimes with antics.

In the UCC, we celebrate two sacraments, baptism and communion. We share communion on the first Sunday of the month, and people of any age or religious preference are welcome to partake. Baptism happens throughout the year, as the desire arises. We baptize infants through the elderly, and if you have been baptized in any Christian tradition, we acknowledge and affirm your baptism as sacred and legitimate.

Coffee Hour

We love to eat together, and love to offer hospitality to newcomers after Sunday morning worship. We proudly serve Equal Exchange fair trade coffee and tea, which tastes great and offers farmers a living wage. Our tastes in food are as eclectic as our tastes in worship: you might see at the feast table anything from lemon squares and baked ziti to chickpea fritters and sushi.

We have a strong core of vegetarians and vegans who love to cook; and an equally strong core of omnivores who sometimes band together to buy locally-grown meat in bulk. Some of them get together as the group Compassionate Harvest, to talk about how food impacts our bodies and spirits.

We also love to feed others! See our Mission and Justice section for details on our community meals for the homeless, and our partnership with a local CSA (Community-Supported Farm).

Rest & Bread

Rest and Bread is our Wednesday midweek service, a simple and deep service of prayer and Communion to provide balm and time for reflection in our busy lives. The service meets in the chapel from 6:30-7:10p. Music for meditation begins at 6:15p. Neighbors and friends are especially welcome.

re/New

re/New is a monthly Sunday evening gathering mingling ancient and contemporary forms of worship and spiritual practice, and involving all of the senses. Think: candlelight, new music, soft pillows, quiet conversation, good bread. We offer diverse choices for spiritual practices and an open-ended approach to working toward wisdom for life in today’s world, with an emphasis on valuing diversity and the uniqueness of each person’s experience and spiritual journey. To receive emails about coming dates, simply send “subscribe” to reNewUrbanRetreat@gmail.com. Spring dates: April 25 and May 16. Meets 7pm-about 8:30.

In other forms

Thursday Morning Prayer

Every Thursday at 7a throughout the year, a church member opens the day in our Chapel with candles, quiet scripture reading and prayer, and reflective conversation. The services lasts about a half hour and is a grounding, holy way to begin the day.

Seasonal Morning Prayer

Twice a year, during Advent (before Christmas) and Lent (before Easter), a church member leads a daily quiet time for the spirit, every weekday morning from 7-7:30a.

Holy Days and Holidays

At First Church we love to celebrate, and really live into the seasons with special worship that employs all the senses. Some of our services have included a Blues Christmas for the Dark Days, an outdoor Winter Solstice service, Science and Spirituality Sunday, Animal Blessings, Jazz Worship and World Music Sunday for Earth Day.

Music

Music is very important to our spiritual lives at First Church, and runs the gamut from Bach to bluegrass, Haydn to hip hop. Music teaches our hearts to perceive and receive God, and so we employ as many modes of music as is possible for us – organ, piano, drums, adult choir (no audition necessary) and children’s choir, congregational singing, a bluegrass band called Strings of Glory, First Church Marching Band, Project SOUL funk band, and occasional ensembles of brass, flutes and other necessary instruments.

Our music is directed by Thom Whittemore. Joe Turbessi is our organist, pianist, and accompanist. The rest of our music is provided by congregation and guests. Come sing and play with us!

Prayer

Prayer is central to our life at First Church. The work of prayer tunes our hearts to God and aligns our spirit and purpose to God. We pray the concerns of the world and our congregation in our Sunday and Wednesday services. Our Prayer Team prays all week long the prayers of our congregation. We have a community prayer box in our front yard into which our neighbors drop notes asking for our prayers. These community prayers are prayed by our prayer team and are prayed at our Wednesday service. Our Deacons attend to and pray the needs of our congregation. Deacons are also are available to pray for individuals during our monthly Sunday communion service. We also pray at all committee and team meetings.

A Last Word on Worship at First Church

The UCC, as a non-hierarchical “free church” tradition, has no set liturgy: no words that we must use in worship week after week. We have a lot of freedom in how we worship, and use our flexibility to be playful, creative, and to respond to the specific spiritual needs of the congregation as well as to current events and themes in the larger culture. We believe in the power of words, and in our own God-given reason, to make meaning and find truth in our worship together.